Scintillant Tenebres: Equipe de le Epouvantail
by Zoicytes-Shadow
Summary: A brilliant plan has need of brilliant creators. Too bad Scarecrow couldn't find any.
1. The Fear

Z/N ( Zoi's note) Batman and Ivy, Dr. Leland, Arkham, Scarecrow....anybody but Fear, are not mine. They belong to Bob Kane, and um, Marvel, I think. Anyway, not mine.

Scintillant Tenebres: Equipe de le Epouvantail

French. ( Sparkling night: Shift of the Scarecrow) (I think.)

Halloween. A new report has been sent out- a woman was seen in some sort of ragged gray material, going through the local jewelry shop a few minutes ago. The silent alarm tripped alerted the police. And they in turn summoned me. Eleven thirty. I approach the shop silently. Yes, she is still there. She suddenly turns, scanning the darkness with terror filled eyes. I duck out of sight. She couldn't have seen me. It's impossible. More than a petty thief, seemingly less than a villian, I wonder what her motives are. She has smoke gray hair, unusual in itself. I approach. She turns once more, sees me, and freezes, eyes still full of terror.  
"Drop the jewelry, and come with me. I don't want to make this harder than it has to be."

"It speaks!" A raspy voice comes out of her mouth, in a burst, as though afraid of leaving.

"Drop the jewelry." I repeat, hoping she'll come quietly. "Drop it, and tell me your name."

She backs away, jewelry forgotten. Surely I'm not that terrifying?

"Fear! Fear has no name!" She shouts, voice about to fade altogether.

"Fear? Come with me. You need help. I can help you."

"Liar! It lies to me! You- You will take me back to Them!"

I reach forward, grazing the fabric of her arm. She shrieks, recoiling to flatten against the far wall.

"No! I will NEVER go back!"

"Back where? Fear?"

She is too far gone. She collapses into a whimpering pile on the floor. I reach down. She shrieks again, a high octave. Scrambling up faster than I thought possible, she throws a grey ball. Mist seeps out from it. I have already breathed some in. Damn.

"I will never go! Tell them that! Tell them!" She laughs, loud and insecure, giddy from fright, almost proud.

A police car pulls up. The mist dissolves. I barely see Gordon apprehend the woman. She falls limp. I flee. Have to get home to Alfred. Have to-the sidewalk rises up into a giant cobra. I push past with some difficulty. My mother screams. Impossible! A building catches on fire. People are crying. Have to- have to get home. Have......to....get...home.......have......to.....................

"Master Bruce? Master Bruce? Can you hear me?"

Sitting up is difficult. The world swims into view.

"I can hear you."

"Thank god! I thought I had lost you! A neurotoxin quite like-"

"Like the fear instillers Crane uses, I know. She hit me with it."

"She?"

"A woman. Gray everything. Gray eyes, Gray hair, Gray outfit. I think she called herself Fear."

"Oh, dear. It seems Batman has another enemy."  
"Yeah. Alfred?"  
"Yes, Master Bruce?"

"I'm going to go input her features into the computer. Bring me an aspirin."

A guard walked up to the clear containment cell with Doctor Leland. She paused at the cell holding the newest inmate. The guard opened the door. They stepped inside.

"Fear? Is that what you call yourself?"

The woman looked away. The Arkham outfit showed her almost emaciated figure.

"What's your real name?"

No answer.

"Who are you?"  
"I am Fear."

"Okay...How did you get this way?"

Fear's eyes opened fully, growing afraid again.

"Fear! Fear is Fear! Aagh! Pain! The....pain.......fear......"

Dr. Leland's eyes widened. The woman made no attempt to harm her.

"Fear?"

"Them...You'll take me back to them... No!"

"Who? Who's 'Them'?"

"Them! They did this! They! did this...pain...fear.......fear......f.....e....a....r......"

Dr. Leland sighed.

"I don't think we'll get much out of you."

She stood up, and walked out with the guard.

Fear let her head fall.

"Alfred?"

"Yes Master Bruce?"

"Come take a look at this."

A few moments later, in Arkham Asylum, the inmates were escorted by guards in turns to the tv room.

Fear was led out by two guards. She stumbled into the small entertainment room. Vines snaked out to grab her as she fell. For a moment, she went limp. Then,

"Restraints! No! Them!"

"Not 'Them'. Just me. Poison Ivy."

Fear was dragged over to the couch, and deposited by Ivy.

"So, Fear. Are you afraid of everything, or so afraid, that you cease to be afraid anymore?"

"Cease to be afraid." Fear responded quietly.

Ivy grinned. "Wow. You are very interesting."

"I like plants."

"Do you? Here's the deal." Ivy glanced over to the guard, who was almost asleep. She lowered her voice.

"I'm going to help you get out of here. You like the sound of that?"

Fear nodded.

"Okay, here's what you do."

"Adrienne Crainte. French psychologist. Underwent adrenaline experiments at the hands of the Psychologist Group for Better Understanding and Involvement with the Human Reactions."  
"Oh dear."

"Yes. I believe they did something to her. Something that made her the way she is now. Afraid of everything."

"What are you going to do?"

"Tell Dr. Leland."

Batman arrived at Arkham Asylum to find the guards outside with flashlights. He spotted Dr. Leland.

"What's going on?"

"Oh! Batman! You scared me. The new inmate, Fear. She's gone."

"What? How?"

"We believe she was helped. On the tapes she was talking to Ivy, and then she ran for the door. She pulled a small round object out from a potted plant, and threw it. The guards went into a hallucinatory state. Saw things that werent there."  
"Fear gas. I know. Where's Ivy?"

"Still in her cell. Did you want to question her?"

Ivy boredly examined her nails.

"Yes, I helped Fear escape."  
"Why?"  
"Why not? It was so easy to snatch one of her little toys with my vines as they brought her suit by my cell. But what you're really asking, I can say, Pamela Isley knew her from college. Adrienne Crainte.  
Crainte is 'Fear' in French."

"I am aware of this."

"That's right, the Batman speaks other languages, doesn't he?"

"Where is she now?"

"How should I know? I was a botanist, She was a psychologist. Unless they're treating plants for mental illnesses now, Her work was entirely different than mine. I have no idea where she'd go."

A call on the Batsignal. At first I thought it was for Fear, but it was for Crane. The Scarecrow is a lot like Fear. I've already had a fear injection once tonight. It won't happen again. I chased him all the way to one of the Wayne Co. building tops. He was worn out, I could tell. Nothing out of the ordinary. He was cornered now. Unless he jumped across to the bulletin, but he hadn't seen it yet. A brief scuffle. He teetered on the edge, and fell. No!

But he didn't fall to the pavement below. A pale hand caught his. He was as surprised as I was to see Fear on the bulletin. She waited in pain as he scrambled up.

I watched, still unsure. And Tired. No sleep since the blackout, and now this.

"Who is that?" Scarecrow advanced menacingly.

Fear held her ground.

"But no one answered, except for the wind, and his own swiftly beating heart." She whispered.

They stood for a moment, Scarecrow watching her.

"Adrienne! Adrienne Crainte!" I called.

Fear swung around on the narrow ledge. "No!"

"Adrienne! I know what happened to you!"

"No!" She shrieked.

Scarecrow seemed to recognize her.

"I can help! Adrienne!" I tried again. I was losing her.

"Didn't you hear the lady? Her name is Fear." Scarecrow said.

Fear turned to look at Scarecrow at the same moment I did.

It was still too much of a risk. The ledge was small, and even if I got on there, someone would probably get hurt badly. And it would probably be me.

"Ms. Fear, I am the Scarecrow. And I believe we've met in college."

Isley, and now Crane? How many villians _did_ she know?

"Adrienne! Crane!"

It was useless. They were both too far gone now.

After a moment's pause, She turned swiftly. My reaction was too slow.

Another fear toxin had entered my bloodstream, this one in the form of a small dart.

I saw them escape together as I began to black out.

The Scarecrow and Fear.....

Had I finally met my match?


	2. The Psychiatrist who came in from the co...

12;05 pm

The Scarecrow's lair

"So. You are the renowned Freudian psychologist Adrienne Crainte, who I met in college."

The Scarecrow paced around a small grey table.

Fear waited, head down.

To escape from Batman, he had used her as a distraction. He had taken her along with him, but that did not mean that she would be anyhing more than a distraction to him now. Still, she remembered the touch of the rope and his long fingers, more clawlike than anything else, but gentle as they had grasped her tighly, bungee jumping from building to building.

The Scarecrow was happy. He grinned. Normally, this would be a bad sign for the reciever, but Fear did not flinch.

"I am delighted, Fear."

Fear lifted her head.

"You have easily defeated the Batman. He will be back, as soon as he recovers. Oh yes, no doubt about that. But it will take a while. Now,"

he crossed over to where she stood, and held out a hand. Fear dropped the vial of neurotoxin into his waiting hand. He held it up to the light. "Incredible. Absoluely marvelous. It's almost exactly like mine, but a bit more concentrated." He was silent for a moment, looking at the vial. Then he turned back to Fear. "Miss Crainte. I am Jonathan Crane."

Fear's eyes widened. The boy in the corner at the high school dance..."

The Scarecrow sighed. "Ah, yes. And you, the girl in an argument with a football player. How sweet it was...."

_Years ago, At a High School dance...._

_Young Jonathan Crane stood uneasily in a corner of the gym. People were all dancing, and he felt quite alone. But not everyone was dancing. A football player bumped young Jon as he passed roughly. Jonathan fell to the ground._

_"What a wimp._" _The jock laughed. Jonathan slowly got up, glaring at the jock, only to be pushed roughly down again. His lip met the floor, and Jon could taste salty blood running down his mouth. He glared at the jock again, and tried to get up once more, cringing when the jock raised a hand. But it never came down. A girl with hair died gray, who wore a flowing gray dress, intercepted it with a martial arts block. "Don't."_

_The jock sneered. "Who are you?"_

_"Adrienne. Adrienne Crainte. Ring a bell?" She glared at him, and rather sufficiently, for he backed off. "Fine, Witch. Take the wimp."_

_The jock walked away. Jonathan stared at his saviour. He had seen her hanging out with the goth crowd a while ago, and had only taken notice because of her strange appearance._

_She was beautiful, in a sociopathic way. Possibly something wrong mentally, but certainly able to command respect as being a witch. She helped him up, and took off her scarf, gray again, to wipe away the blood. Young Jon blushed furiously. She smiled at him._

_"M-My favorite color is gray. It's like my life. Misty."_

_She smiled again. "Same here."_

_Jonathan grew a strange feeling in his stomach. "W-Would you hurt me, If I asked you to dance?"_

_She smiled, a wonderfully silver color, and took him by the hands._

_Several people watched them, including Pamela Isley, Harleen Quinzel, and Selina Kyle._

"Good times, good times." The Scarecrow sighed, deep in memory.

Fear watched him.

He looked over at her.

"My dear Fear, would you hurt me If I asked you to dance?"

He held out his hands.

Fear's heart fluttered. She took his hands.

They began a slow waltz to music only they could hear.

Atop the building, Catwoman watched with nightvision, humming a tune to herself.

"So it really does take two. To argue, to have a converation, to waltz." She purred.

"And to fall in love. Oh yes, I cant forget that."


	3. Chapter 3

When the mirror was tipped sideways, the room became crooked. When it was tipped up, the room was straight again. But the room was never straight to begin with. Fear giggled, her mask of tension cracked and gone. The Scarecrow paced around the room, involved in a plan of sorts. He looked over at her. "Fear, you delectable piece of terror, what do you say to going in with me on my plan to get rid of Batman once and for all?"

Fear grinned. "Completely and totally? Gone for good?"  
Scarecrow nodded.

"Eliminate him completely? Oh, can we break him down mentally first? Please?"

Scarecrow smiled. "Exactly what I had in mind."  
Fear got up. "How scary am I?" She asked.

The Scarecrow gently took the mirror from her hands. "Look at us, Fear. We are terror! Terror incarnate!"  
Fear laughed. "Okay, I'm ready! What's the plan?"

"We have quite similar toxins, but I believe that different ones can be developed. Using a concentration of chemicals, we create neurotoxins that cannot be cured by antidotes. Namely, if you take the antidote for one, the other will grow worse."

"Sounds complicated."  
"It is, my dear. And that's why we shall have to cooperate with certain others."  
"I vouch for Ivy!"

"Now you get the idea."

Pamela Isley, better known as Poison Ivy, was almost asleep when the commotion started.

"The itsy bitsy spider crawled up the water spout.."

"No! Please! Noo!"  
"Down came the rain, and washed the spider out."  
There was a sudden silence.

"Out came the sun, and dried up all the rain. And the itsy bitsy spider- WENT UP THE SPOUT AGAIN!"

"AAGH!"

More silence. Then footsteps, and muffled laughter.  
"Oh my gosh Scarecrow, that was awesome! Can we do it again?"

"Of course, but later, Fear. Now we have to gather some friends."

"Why are people afraid of spiders? I never understood."  
"The human mind is complicated."  
"Ooh! There it is!"

Poison Ivy watched as her cell door was opened, apparently by a shadow. She walked out.

"Who else do we want?"

"Who else can help us?"

A third voice chimed in now. "Ooh! Whatever you're doin', I can help! Lemme out of here!"

Fear laughed. "Hi Harleen. Fancy seeing you here."

"Adrienne? Adri, lemme out!"

Click.

Harley Quinn jumped out of her now open cell, fists clenched in anticipation.

"Okay, what are we doin'?"

"Creating a fear inducing toxin that is composed of many parts, making an antidote almost impossible to create."

Harely Quinn's interest dropped, and Poison Ivy's surfaced.

"Sounds like a challenge."  
They turned to face her, light illuminating their faces in a creepy way.  
"I should have known. Hello, Crane, Adrienne."  
"Hi Ivy." Fear waved. "Come on you guys, let's get out of here."  
Poison Ivy let Fear lead the way, and they had almost exited the building when twelve guards showed up.  
"Freeze!"  
For a split second there was silence, and then all hell broke loose. The Scarecrow pushed Fear out of the line of fire as Ivy and Harley ducked. There was a hiss, and Harley muttered something about knowing she shouldnt have gotten out of bed this morning. The lights flickered out. Silence resumed once more, but silence with anxiety behind it, silence that knew it was waiting for something.

"Are you afraid?"

Fear's voice came from everywhere at once.

"What are you afraid of? Why are you afraid?"  
Several guards started shooting in random directions.  
"Let's find out, shall we?"  
Ivy, already knowing the outcome of this, closed her eyes. A variety of shrieks and inhuman screams joined with the human ones to create a cacophony of terror. Even without looking, Ivy's blood ran cold. She felt Harley grab her for moral support, and a few minutes later, everything stopped. Ivy looked up. The guards were on the ground, flailing and grabbing at nothing with empty wide eyes. Crane was helping Fear up, and they turned in Ivy's direction.  
"Shall we?"

Harley got up, still shaking, and dusted herself off.  
"That was one great masterpiece theater, Adri. Just..don't do it again while I'm around, okay?"


End file.
